Preaching and Preachers [pp. 454-483]

Preaching and Preachers.
tecost from the Acts of the Apostles, while those of Spain and
Gaul read the Revelation. In Syria they read Genesis in Lent,
but at Milan, Job and Jonah. In Northern Africa the history
of our Lord's passion was appropriately read on Good Friday;
at Easter, the account of the resurrection; in both cases from
Matthew. When we come down to the days of Augustine, we
find the lessons somewhat fixed; and it would be easy to make
numerous citations from his works to this point. Antiquaries
refer the first collection of lessons, called Lectionaries, in Gaul,
to about the middle of the fifth century; the oldest known being
the celebrated Lectionarium Gallicanum. In the eighth century it was still necessary for the imperial authority of Charlemagne to enforce uniformity in the portions read.
When matters had gradually assumed their rubrical settlement, the Church customs became fixed. The reading was by
a reader, or lector, who stood in the elevation known as the
ambo. He began with the words, "Peace unto you," to which
there was a response by the people, such as is familiar to us in
modern service-books. The gospels had the precedence, as they
still have in the Missal, and were frequently read by the deacon.
This we suppose to have been a very ancient custom, and one
which might well have a place in modern liturgies, where the
voice of the minister is often overtasked, in oppressive seasons
and times of ill-health. The sermon was pronounced sometimes
from the bishop's cathedra, before bishops had ceased to preach,
or from the steps of the altar, when this had taken the place of
the communion table; in some instances, however, from the
ambo, which reveals a connection of the discourse with the lesson of Scripture.
In attempting to gather some notices of early preaching, we
have to grope amidst darkness, most of our authorities belonging to a corrupt and ritualistic period. The preacher began
with the Pax omnibus, to which the audience responded. We
find Augustine asking them sometimes to help him with their
prayers. "The lesson out of the Apostles," he says, in one
place, "is dark and difficult;" and he craves their intercession.
And elsewhere: Quemadmodum nos, ut ista percipiatis, oramus, sic et vos orate, ut ea vobis explicare valeamus. The
preacher sat, while the people stood; as no seats were fur
1854.]
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